London

==Administration==
===Local government===
{{main|Local government in London|History of local government in London|List of heads of London government}}
[[File:City coat of arms, Holborn Viaduct (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Coat of arms of the City of London|Arms of the Corporation of the City of London]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/fsca19.htm|title=The Heraldic Dragon|work=Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art |first1=John |last1=Vinycomb |date=1909 |publisher=Internet Sacred Text Archive |access-date=23 July 2015|archive-date=28 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170528185311/http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/fsca19.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
The administration of London is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the [[Greater London Authority]] (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities.<ref name="london_032">{{Cite web |title=Who runs London – Find Out Who Runs London and How |url=http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/who-runs-london|access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[London Councils]] }}</ref> The GLA consists of two elected components: the [[mayor of London]], who has [[executive powers]], and the [[London Assembly]], which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject the mayor's budget proposals each year. The GLA has responsibility for the majority of London's transport system through its functional arm [[Transport for London]] (TfL), it is responsible for overseeing the city's police and fire services, and also for setting a strategic vision for London on a range of issues.<ref name="london_goverance">{{cite web |title=The essential guide to London local government |url=https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/who-runs-london/essential-guide-london-local-government |publisher=London Councils |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> The headquarters of the GLA is [[City Hall, Newham|City Hall]], Newham. The mayor since 2016 has been [[Sadiq Khan]], the first [[Muslim]] mayor of a major Western capital.<ref>{{Cite news |title=London Elections 2016: Results |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2016/london/results |access-date=7 May 2016}}</ref> The mayor's [[statutory planning]] strategy is published as the [[London Plan]], which was most recently revised in 2011.<ref name="london_plan">{{Cite web |title=The London Plan |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/londonplan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508220051/http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/londonplan |archive-date=8 May 2012 |access-date=25 May 2012 |website=[[Greater London Authority]] }}</ref>

The local authorities are the councils of the 32 [[London borough]]s and the [[City of London Corporation]].<ref name="london_035">{{Cite web |title=London Government Directory – London Borough Councils |url=http://directory.londoncouncils.gov.uk/ |access-date=29 March 2017 |website=[[London Councils]] }}</ref> They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, libraries, leisure and recreation, [[social work|social services]], local roads and refuse collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=London Government |url=https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/london-government/ |publisher=politics.co.uk |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> Certain functions, such as [[Waste disposal authorities in London|waste management]], are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010 the combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22&nbsp;billion (£14.7&nbsp;billion for the boroughs and £7.4&nbsp;billion for the GLA).<ref>{{Cite web |year=2011 |title=Local Government Financial Statistics England No.21 (2011) |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7462/1911067.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428000713/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7462/1911067.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=25 March 2021 |archive-date=28 April 2018}}</ref>

The [[London Fire Brigade]] is the [[statute|statutory]] [[Fire service in the UK|fire and rescue service]] for Greater London, run by the [[London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority]]. It is the third largest fire service in the world.<ref name="LFB">{{Cite web |url=http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/WhoWeAre.asp |title=Who we are |publisher=London Fire Brigade |access-date=25 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429034538/http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/WhoWeAre.asp |archive-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[National Health Service]] [[Emergency medical services|ambulance services]] are provided by the [[London Ambulance Service|London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust]], the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency ambulance service in the world.<ref name="LAS">{{Cite web |url=http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/about_us.aspx |title=About us |publisher=London Ambulance Service NHS Trust |access-date=25 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427031902/http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/about_us.aspx |archive-date=27 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[London Air Ambulance]] charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. [[Her Majesty's Coastguard]] and the [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]] operate on the [[River Thames]], which is under the jurisdiction of the [[Port of London Authority]] from [[Teddington Lock]] to the sea.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Port of London Act 1968 (as amended) |url=http://www.pla.co.uk/Port-of-London-Act-1968 |access-date=29 March 2021 |website=[[Port of London Authority]]}}</ref>

===National government===
[[File:10 Downing Street. MOD 45155532 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|190px|[[10 Downing Street]], official residence of the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]]]
London is the seat of the [[Government of the United Kingdom]]. Many government departments, as well as the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister's]] residence at [[10 Downing Street]], are based close to the [[Palace of Westminster]], particularly along [[Whitehall]].<ref name="london_036">{{Cite web |title=Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/prime-ministers-office-10-downing-street |access-date=25 March 2021 |website=uk.gov}}</ref> There are 73 members of [[British House of Commons|Parliament]] (MPs) from London; {{as of|2019|December}}, 49 are from the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], 21 are [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]], and three are [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]].<ref>{{Cite news |year=2019 |title=Constituencies A-Z – Election 2019 |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies |url-status=dead|access-date=30 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216195058/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies |archive-date=16 December 2019}}</ref> The ministerial post of [[minister for London]] was created in 1994 and as of 2020 is held by [[Paul Scully]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Minister for London |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/minister-for-london |website=gov.uk |publisher=UK Government |access-date=30 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

===Policing and crime===
{{main|Crime in London}}
Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the [[City of London]], is provided by the [[Metropolitan Police]] ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the [[Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime]] (MOPAC).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://policeauthority.org/Metropolitan/ |title=MPA: Metropolitan Police Authority |publisher=Metropolitan Police Authority |date=22 May 2012 |access-date=4 May 2013}}</ref> The Met is also referred to as [[Scotland Yard]] after the location of its original headquarters in a road called [[Great Scotland Yard]] in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force&nbsp;– the [[City of London Police]].<ref name="Policing">{{Cite web |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/policing.jsp |title=Policing |publisher=Greater London Authority |access-date=25 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121173357/http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/policing.jsp |archive-date=21 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the [[custodian helmet]] has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement".<ref>{{cite news |title=Just how practical is a traditional Bobby's helmet? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30932319 |access-date=11 April 2023 |agency=BBC}}</ref> Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue [[Police box|police telephone box]] (basis for the [[TARDIS]] in ''[[Doctor Who]]'') was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK.<ref>{{cite news |title=Police lose fight to ground Tardis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/oct/23/bbc.broadcasting1 |access-date=15 April 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

[[File:SIS building (26327425611).jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.1|right|Headquarters of [[MI6]], the UK's foreign intelligence service, at the [[SIS Building]]. Scenes featuring [[James Bond]] (the fictional MI6 agent) have been filmed here.]]
The [[British Transport Police]] are responsible for police services on [[National Rail]], [[London Underground]], [[Docklands Light Railway]] and [[Tramlink]] services.<ref name="BTP">{{Cite web |year=2021 |title=About Us |url=https://www.btp.police.uk/police-forces/british-transport-police/areas/about-us/about-us/ |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[British Transport Police]]}}</ref>
The [[Ministry of Defence Police]] is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Ministry of Defence – Our Purpose |url=http://www.mod.police.uk/index.html |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[Ministry of Defence Police]] |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506183729/http://www.mod.police.uk/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The UK's domestic counter-intelligence service ([[MI5]]) is headquartered in [[Thames House]] on the north bank of the River Thames, and the foreign intelligence service ([[MI6]]) is headquartered in the [[SIS Building]] on the south bank.<ref>{{cite book|last=Andrew|first=Christopher|title=The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5|page=[https://archive.org/details/defenceofrealmau0000andr/page/134 134]|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2009|isbn=978-0-713-99885-6|url=https://archive.org/details/defenceofrealmau0000andr/page/134}}</ref>

Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at [[Local authority#England|Local Authority]] and [[Ward (England)|Ward]] level.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 March 2021 |title=Recorded Crime: Geographic Breakdown – Metropolitan Police Service |url=https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/recorded_crime_summary |access-date=28 March 2021 |website=[[Greater London Authority]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2015, there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.itv.com/news/london/2016-01-24/london-murder-rate-up-14-over-the-past-year/ |title=London murder rate up 14% over the past year |publisher=ITV News |date=24 January 2016 |access-date=16 February 2016}}</ref>
Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from the start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Crerar |first1=Pippa |last2=Gayle |first2=Damien |date=10 April 2018 |title=Sadiq Khan Holds City Hall Summit on How To Tackle Violent Crime |url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/10/sadiq-khan-holds-city-hall-summit-on-how-to-tackle-violent |access-date=25 March 2021 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than [[List of cities by homicide rate|other major cities]] around the world.<ref>{{cite news |title=Met Police: London homicide figures fall in 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64183759 |access-date=5 January 2024 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>